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I don’t normally do requests, mainly because I already have a list of songs in my head that I want to do and don’t even have time to do those!  HollisBoy92 over at YouTube requested this the other day and I managed to squeeze it in during my (now routine) Sunday night* recording slot!

*My wife watches Desperate Housewives followed by Brothers and Sisters - so I get two whole hours of guilt-free play time!  Rock & Roll!  

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4–g3BnROc]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4–g3BnROc

As I mentioned in the previous post, video quality is not great.  I’m currently experimenting with different software packages and video capture methods.

I found Phil’s Cannon lesson the other day and loved the song.  This is a great worship song and I’d love to play it at church.  I think it would go down a treat.

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRKrd-anos4]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRKrd-anos4

Phil’s Blog: http://www.philwickham.com/blog

I used Vegas to capture the video (Logitech Pro 9000) and audio (Samson CO3U) for this.  As you can see, the video framerate is not great, and slightly out of sync.  I need to tweak some settings.  The second video (Holy Is The Lord) I’ll be putting up in a second suffers even worse.

I love it when artists do videos like this.  Here Phil is teaching us how to play Cannons which is a great worship song.  I can’t believe I have not bought this man’s album yet.

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MiCMB1pEw]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MiCMB1pEw

(Update: My cover here)

Lyrics
It’s falling from the clouds
A strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and rain
It’s ringing in the skies
Like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays

You are holy great and mighty
The moon and the stars declare who You are
I’m so unworthy, but still You love me
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are

Beautiful and free
Song of Galaxies
It’s reaching far beyond the milky way
Lets join in with the sound
C’mon let’s sing it loud
As the music of the universe plays

All glory, honor, power is Yours amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours forever amen

Here’s the video of Come Thou Fount from NHC, 04 May 2008. 

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5g41OEFUS4]

I’d been trying all week to pull this footage from DVD and put it on YouTube, but Adobe Premiere (Elements) was giving me jip. 

I downloaded a trial version of Sony Vegas 8 Platinum and give it a whirl.  You are supposed to be able to import straight from the DVD, but that didn’t work for me.  Apparently the DVD needs to be finalized for that to work - I don’t know if our church DVDs are or not.

So, I loaded up Super and converted the VOB to Mpeg2 and brought the Mpeg2 into Vegas.  I’d tried this step already in Premiere with unsatisfactory results, but it worked a treat in Vegas.  I cut the section I needed, added title, fades and rendered it to Windows Media 9 format for upload to YouTube.

I found a great YouTube channel (guerillabill) with loads of Vegas how-to videos.  I used tips from this video to customize the render for YouTube - except I kept the output size to 640×480 instead of the suggested 320×240.

I have to say, I was impressed by the final file size and quality of the Windows Media 9 file.  I normally use xvid/divx to keep the files under 100mb.  The Windows Media 9 file that I uploaded to YouTube was 28mb!

(There’s a $30 mail-in rebate offer available on Amazon for Vegas 8 until the end of May.  I ordered my copy this morning!)

YouTube Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5g41OEFUS4

I think after tonight’s performance Jason Castro may be out tomorrow night.  Forgetting the lyrics during the song did not go down well with Simon.

I heard recently that Jason was a worship leader someplace.  I don’t know if that’s true or not as I haven’t been able to find out any information online.  I did however, find a video of him singing Brandon Heath’s I’m Not Who I Was at Lakepointe Church.

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGENauepB5g]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGENauepB5g

From the new Narnia film - this is Switchfoot’s new song “This Is Home“.

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2WIFdeJ8E]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2WIFdeJ8E

ht: switchfeed

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgcL3dn25i4]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgcL3dn25i4

Lyrics
Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God’s redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I come.
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above. 

• Again I Say Rejoice (Israel & New Breed)
• For Who You Are (Hillsong)
• Come Thou Fount (David Crowder)
• Saviour King (Hillsong)

This was the second Sunday singing at New Horizon Church.  I haven’t watched the DVD back yet, so I don’t know if I still look like a rabbit in the headlights, but I definitely felt a bit more comfortable this week than last.

Again I Say Rejoice was fun to sing.  I was a bit worried during practice last Wednesday night as I was totally lost.  I used to do For Who You Are back home, so I was well familiar with this one.  I led on Come Thou Fount so I put in loads of extra effort last week to memorize the words.  We finished with Saviour King which is such a brilliant song.

This hymn has an interesting story behind it.  It was written by a man called Robert Robinson in 1758.  He was a methodist minister and apparently used these words to close a sermon.  In his later life Robert fell away from God - or at least did not have the relationship he once had.

One day he met a lady who was reading through a hymn book.  She started to hum a hymn and asked him if he liked it.  He reportedly replied “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

The hymn was put to music in 1813 by John Wyeth.  I’m not sure we are using the same tune now that John composed as he was American and this version (by David Crowder Band) has a distinct Irish feel to it.  I’m singing it tomorrow at church.

Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Calls for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it
Mount of God’s redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood 

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above